Have you heard..?

Although the EU has undoubtedly brought benefits to the UK, there are many people who have sincere and principled objections to Britain’s membership.

Sincere and principled arguments are one thing. Like most organisations the EU is not perfect. But there is also much written and spoken about the EU that is not true.

All of the stories below have been published as facts in the British press. They are stories based on hearsay, rumour and half-truths, many of which have been repeated so often that they have become accepted truths within the public and media consciousness.

The spread of myths can inhibit serious and necessary debate about the place of the EU in our lives.

• EU ban on cigarette breaks: the EU is targeting smokers' last haven, the office doorway, in a crack-down on smoking outdoors.
  Observer 3 June 2007
  
• The European Union made a sensational bid to grab control of English football last night in a move that threatens the national game.
  The Sun 24 May 2006
  
• Supermarkets and off licences will only be allowed to sell booze at weekends under secret plans by barmy Brussels bureaucrats.
  Daily Star 21 February 2005
  
• The EU…has decreed that condom dimensions should be harmonised across the seamless Continent.
  The Independent on Sunday 12 March 2000
  
• A tightrope-walker says that his career has been placed in jeopardy by legislation originating in Brussels which dictates that he must wear a hard hat to perform.
  The Times, 23 July 2003
  
• The barmy bureaucrats of Brussels appeared to have gone totally bonkers last night...they banned the sticks used by our lollipop ladies. The Euro meddlers say foreign drivers may not understand the "Stop:Children" sign, suggesting they will simply drive on when a lady stands in front of them.
  News of the World, 4 July 1999
  
• Greedy EU chiefs will snatch Britain’s North Sea oil if Tony Blair signs up to the planned EU constitution, it was revealed last night. The draft proposal for the treaty has a secret clause demanding power over Europe’s energy supply.
  The Sun, 29 May 2003
  
• Gastronomes in Britain were today backing specialist varieties of cheese such as Cheddar, Cheshire and Lancashire which look set to be banned under EU rules. The cheeses, made by many of Britain's small farms, use unpasteurised milk, a process the EU intends to ban following food poisoning scares.
  PA News, 10 May 1999